"Right," cries his Lordship; "for a rogue in "To have a taste is insolence indeed:
"In me 'tis noble, suits my birth and state,
"My wealth unwieldy, and my heap too great." Then, like the sun, let 2 Bounty spread her ray, 115 And shine that superfluity away.
Oh impudence of wealth! with all thy store
How dar'st thou let one worthy man be poor?
Shall half the 3new-built churches round thee fall?
Make quays, build bridges, or repair Whitehall ; 120
Or to thy country let that heap be lent,
As M**o's was, but not at five per cent.
4 Who thinks that Fortune cannot change her mind, Prepares a dreadful jest for all mankind.
And 5 who stands safest ? tell me, is it he
That spreads and swells in puff'd prosperity,
Jure, inquis, Trasius istis
Jurgatur verbis: ego vectigalia magna,
Divitiasque habeo tribus amplas regibus. 2 Ergo,
Quod superat, non est melius quo insumere possis ?
Cur eget indignus quisquam, te divite ? quare
3 Templa ruunt antiqua Deûm ? cur, improbe, caræ
Non aliquid patriæ tanto emetiris acervo ?
Uni nimirum recte tibi semper erunt res?
O magnus posthac inimicis risus! uterne
5 Ad casus dubios fidet sibi certius? hic, qui
Pluribus assuerit mentem corpusque superbum;
Or, bless'd with little, whose preventing care
In peace provides fit arms against a war?"
'Thus Bethel spoke,who always speaks his thought,
And always thinks the very thing he ought:
His equal mind I copy what I can,
And as I love would imitate the man.
In South-sea days, not happier, when surmis'd
The lord of thousands, than if now 2 excis'd;
In forest planted by a father's hand,
Than in five acres now of rented land.
Content with little, I can piddle here
On 3 brocoli and mutton round the year;
But + ancient friends, (tho' poor, or out of play) That touch my bell, I cannot turn away : 'Tis true, no 5 turbots dignify my boards,
But gudgeons, flounders, what my Thames affords :
An qui contentus parvo metuensque futuri,
In pace, ut sapiens, aptârit idonea bello?
'Quo magis his credas: puer hunc ego parvis Ofellum
Integris opibus novi non latius usum,
Quam nunc accisis. videas metato in agello,
Cum pecore et gnatis, fortem mercede colonum,
Non ego, narrantem, temere edi luce profesta
Quidquam, præter 3 olus, fumosæ cum pede pernæ
At mihi, cum 4 longum post tempus venerat hospes,
Sive operum vacuo gratus conviva per imbrem
Vicinus, bene erat, non piscibus urbe petitis,
Sed pullo, atque hoedo: tum 5 pensilis uva secundas
To Hounslow-heath I point, and Bansted-down,
Thence comes your mutton,and these chicks my own:
'From yon' old walnut-tree a show'r shall fail, 145
And grapes, long ling'ring on my only wall,
And figs from standard and espalier join;
The devil is in you if you cannot dine:
Then 2 cheerful healths, (your mistress shall have place),
And, what's more rare, a poet shall say grace. 150 3 Fortune not much of humbling me can boast; Tho' double-tax'd, how little have I lost!
My life's amusements have been just the same
Before and after 4 standing armies came.
My lands are sold, my father's house is gone; 155
I'll hire another's; is not that my own,
And yours,my friends? thro' whose free-op'ning gate None comes too early, none departs too late; (For I, who hold sage Homer's rule the best, Welcome the coming, speed the going guest.) 160 "Pray Heav'n it last! (cries Swift) as you go on; "I wish to God this house had been your own!
Et nuxornabat mensas, cum duplice ficu.
Post hoc ludus erat 2 cuppa potare magistra :
Ac venerata Ceres, ut culmo surgeret alto,
Explicuit vino contractæ seria frontis.
3 Sæviat, atque novos moveat Fortuna tumultus! Quantum hinc imminuet? quanto aut ego parcius,aut O pueri,nituistis, ut huc4 novus incola venit? [vos,
"Pity! to build without a son or wife:
"Why, you'll enjoy it only all your life.”
Well, if the use be mine, can it concern one
Whether the name belong to Pope or Vernon?
What's' property? dear Swift! you see it alter
From you to me, from me to 2 Peter Walter;
Or, in a mortgage prove a lawyer's share,
Or in a jointure vanish from the heir;
Or in pure 3 Equity (the case not clear)
The chanc'ry takes your rents for twenty year
At best it falls to some 4 ungracious son,
Who cries, "My father's damn'd,and all's my own."
5 Shades that to Bacon could retreat afford,
Become the portion of a booby lord;
And Hemsley, once proud Buckingham's delight, Slides to a scriv'ner or a city knight.
"Let lands and houses have what lords they will, Let us be fix'd, and our own masters still.
Nam' propriæ telluris herum natura, neque illum,
Nec me, nec quemquam statuit, nos expulit ille :
Illum aut nequities, aut 3 vafri inscitia juris,
Postremo expellet certe 4 vivacior heres.
5 Nunc ager Umbreni sub nomine, nuper Ofelli
Dictus, erit nulli proprius; sed cedet in usum
Nunc mihi, nunc alii. quocirca vivite fortes;
Fortiaque adversis opponite pectora rebus.
The First Part imitated in the year 1714, by Dr.
Swift, the latter part added afterwards.
I'VE often wish'd that I had clear
For life six hundred pounds a-year,
A handsome house to lodge a friend,
A river at my garden's end,
A terrace-walk, and half a rood
Of land set out to plant a wood.
Well, now I have all this, and more,
I ask not to increase my store;
But here a grievance seems to lie,
All this is mine but till I die;
I can't but think 't would sound more clever,
To me and to my heirs for ever.
• If I ne'er got or lost a groat By any trick or any fault;
Hoc erat in votis: modus agri non ita magnus,
Hortus ubi, et tecto vicinus jugis aquæ fons,
Et paulum silvæ super his foret. auctius, atque
Dimelius fecere. bene est: nihil amplius oro,
Maia nate, nisi ut propria hæc mihi munera saxis.
Si neque majorem feci ratione mala rem,
Nec sum facturus vitio culpave minorem :
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